My letter to Attawapiskat's Chief Theresa Spence

I was going to write about the unusual series of events which have propelled the Attiwapiskat First Nation's situation into the public spotlight, when I received this post:

http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.com/2011/12/brave-leadership-spreads-hope.html and if that won't work for you, go to: http://tinyurl.com/cs3tyo7.

Either link will take you to the well-written and well-researched blog of Prof. Pam Palmater who has recently come forward as a powerful voice for the First Peoples. Prof. Palmeter offers the history with well-researched background, plus current reviews of the struggle this small First Peoples community has engaged in over the past several weeks.

So I am going to write a public letter to Attawapiskat's Chief Theresa Spence, instead.

Dear Chief Spence and my dear Sister, Neighbour and Fellow-Inhabitant of this part of Turtle Island, your homeland:

Thank you for your courage and fortitude as you stand firm in support of your people and your home territory.

I am following events carefully, as you exert the sovereign power shared by you and your people under the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

Prof. Palmeter has spoken very clearly of the historic stand you are taking, and as a woman born in this territory in 1922 who only came into contact with your people about 40 years ago, I can't tell you how pleased I am to see this happening.

I came upon your people for the first time in 1966 when I went to live in Manitowaning on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. In 1985, I wrote:

He sat silently in my car, his shoulders hunched against the hopelessness which seemed to pervade his fourteen years of life. In a few minutes he would go back into the house to face his alcoholic father, listless mother and six younger brothers and sisters. What sort of future lay ahead for this Odawa teenager? I was certain there could be something better but it had to start with his knowing that he was worthy.

I spoke quietly but with all the conviction I could muster.

“You are Indian, and that’s a beautiful, wonderful thing to be,” I told him. “You have so much to offer the world as an Indian person and your people need you to help them to know how important and vital it is to be Indian. Wherever you go, whatever you do, always hold your head high and be proud of your Indian heritage. It’s what makes you a very special person – to your people, to me, to the Creator.”

He got out of the car and went into the house, still without speaking a word. I didn’t know if he had listened or understood. I didn’t see him again and I don’t know where he is now. But I think I see his face in many of the young Indian leaders who have begun to assert their right to take control of their own lives, so dearly lost over the centuries since the immigrant settlers came to their aboriginal homeland. [From: The Anglican Church of Canada "LIVING MESSAGE", April 1985]

At that time, I was just beginning to learn something of the true history of this place I call "my country - my native land" - Canada. Since then, I have learned so much more as I have been privileged to sit among the First Peoples to listen to the Elders (who are the "history books" of your thousands of years of life in this territory).

In the intervening years, nothing has happened to change my growing awareness of our shared history, much of which is contained in Prof. Palmeter's blog. I have learned so much about the true history of the country I know as Canada - the place of my birth and life for almost 90 years - as I have been allowed to walk in solidarity with your people through many good teachings and sacred circles, in a number of encounters on burial sites and protest marches, and finally to attempt to work in support of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission in my region of southern Ontario. Your people have tried to teach me the Ojibwe language, and have nurtured me through talking circles, sharing deep friendships, and supporting me in many ways throughout my life, and I am eternally grateful.

Now you are asserting your sovereignty, and I want you to know that once again, I stand beside you, so happy that you are giving your people that kind of leadership. And I rejoice that you have the support of so many of your people across the country, from the Assembly of First Nations, and your regional Nishnabe Aski Nation, and your local Mushkegowuk Council, and now I see the United Nations has come in on your side with the attention of James Anaya, UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples telling the Federal government that he will be watching what happens in your territory. http://tinyurl.com/7mszwq3

I see also that you have filed for an injunction against the third-party manager, another sign of your acknowledgement of your people's sovereign rights, so good for you on that score too!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/attawapiskat-band-files-injunction-to-end-control-of-third-party-manager/article2272787/ or http://tinyurl.com/6pdcg6q

 

I regret that my leaders have to be called to account in this way, but it is time for us to begin to understand and accept that we must find a way to negotiate a new relationship with the First Peoples of this part of Turtle Island, and so I thank you for leading the way.

As we approach this sacred time of year, may you and your people know something of the warmth and love that comes from contact with people who care about you, and may the coming year guide us into new ways of achieving a relationship of harmony, equality and justice.

Your loving friend and sister in the human family,

Jean Koning.

My call to revolution

How to prevent native uprising - Winnipeg Free Press

This article by Douglas Bland speaks to me of a militaristic view of the relationship between the First Peoples and the Rest of Us, following the theme of his book, “Uprising”. http://koningskomments.blogspot.com/2010/07/uprising-by-douglas-bland.html

As I am sure I have said elsewhere, I believe it is only because of the restraining voices of First Peoples Elders, plus the damage we have inflicted over the years on the self-confidence and self-respect of First Peoples brothers and sisters, that the young people have not become more militant during recent years.

Meanwhile, the past week’s media revelations re the Attawapiskat situation brings before us the appalling conditions faced by First Peoples youth in their homelands, so I ask how you could blame them if they begin to lash out at us. To date, their “lashing out” is lateral – they hit upon themselves with suicide and drug use, and upon one another with the violence we see reported regularly within First Nations communities. These are the actions of people who have no hope. We are the criminals for allowing those situations to continue, year after year, unabated because we think we don’t know what to do, so we simply pretend it isn’t there.

But there are things we can do. We can become aware of fellow human beings whose ancestors have lived in these lands we know as Canada since time immemorial (and please don’t come back with the old saw about “they came across the Bering Sea”. That’s a cop-out and you know it.)

Canada has a history that reaches back into the centuries, and we need to know that history. Canadian history did not start with the arrival of the Vikings, or Columbus, or Champlain. At least by the time we reach Champlain, we can see that he recognized he was in the homeland of people who were resident here before his time.

But I have been saying these things ad nauseum for many years, and I’m still having to say it – so I don’t know why I bother if no one is listening.

But I keep holding onto hope – hope that one day, enough people are going to hear about this reality that they will begin to study, ask questions and find out about the history we share with the First Peoples in whose homeland we now dwell. I have hope that enough of us will begin to sit down with First Peoples and begin to listen to them – their stories, their history, their lives, and I pray they have the guts to ask First Peoples to help us to find a way to bring our relationship back into balance, so that each of us sees the other as fully equal
.

That won’t happen, however, unless we can admit that we don’t know everything, we are not superior to First Peoples, and that we really need to ask them, with respect and true regret for past mistakes, to let us be their friends. That calls for a massive change in our thinking, in our thought processes – such a huge change that it is in effect revolutionary.

We are the ones that have to engage in revolution - a revolutionary change in our thinking about our relationship with the First Peoples of Turtle Island..  I invite you to think about it.